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Koppell created the program at Arizona State University that, with partners at the Volcker Alliance, has grown over the past seven years to almost 600 students at seven other universities.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs you can imagine, I\u2019m passionate about this,\u201d Koppell told Montclair\u2019s NextGen leaders. \u201cBut more importantly, I\u2019ve seen what it means to students in the program. I\u2019ve seen how it transforms educational experiences.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The University received a $100,000 grant from the Volcker Alliance to launch NextGen, the first cohort reflecting the diversity of Montclair with \u201ca wide variety of cultural backgrounds and lived experiences,\u201d says NextGen Director Maziely Crisostomo.<\/p>\n
The group will take part in team building, leadership development, experiential learning opportunities, \u201cand most importantly, assisting in the creation of the blueprint for what NextGen will look like for years to come,\u201d Crisostomo says.<\/p>\n
Associate Vice President for Community Partnerships Bryan Murdock, in welcoming the first cohort, said NextGen is the cornerstone of Montclair becoming a premier public-serving institution.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n \u201cI believe that with your hard work, your determination and your service, that future generations, the students who are in this program 10 years from now, will be standing on your shoulders,\u201d added Associate Vice President for Community Partnerships Bryan Murdock.<\/p>\n
The remarks inspired the undergrads chosen for the inaugural experience. \u201cIt\u2019s a chance to start a revolution, our chance to educate those around us,\u201d says Ta\u2019Miyah Alexander, a freshman Psychology major. \u201cIt\u2019s the opportunity I\u2019ve been waiting for. You hear, you\u2019re the change that will be the future, but making that happen requires resources. To be in this program, knowing there are resources behind it, it\u2019s very empowering.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brett Hunt, director of Next Generation Service Initiatives, addressed the audience by video, encouraging the service-minded students:<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope that as you chart this path forward, you\u2019re driven by personal core values. Values like respect, responsibility, integrity and selflessness. This organization is in your hands. It will be as amazing and life-changing of an experience as each of you make it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
President Koppell takes a selfie with Montclair\u2019s NextGen leaders.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Koppell talked with the students about the benefits of public good. \u201cWe make decisions to invest ourselves in doing things that are good for other people, knowing full well that there are others who are not going to participate in the production of that important public good. We think it\u2019s worth giving of ourselves, even if economically it doesn\u2019t make sense. That\u2019s what public service is.\u201d
\nHe asked the group, \u201cWhy would we take our university\u2019s limited resources and create a program like this? It\u2019s you. It\u2019s the University\u2019s mission to produce something that other people are going to benefit from. You are the public good that we\u2019re producing because you\u2019re going to go out and do great things. You\u2019re going to be benefiting the world.\u201d<\/p>\nStory by Staff Writer Marilyn Joyce Lehren<\/a>. Photos by University Photographer Mike Peters<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Service-minded students selected as University\u2019s first NextGen leaders prepare to change the world<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":295,"featured_media":2300,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-office-of-community-engagement-and-partnerships"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/center-for-community-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/center-for-community-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/center-for-community-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/center-for-community-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/295"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/center-for-community-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2299"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/center-for-community-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2299\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2515,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/center-for-community-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2299\/revisions\/2515"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/center-for-community-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/center-for-community-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/center-for-community-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/center-for-community-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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